I've just made my first purchases from the UK, one from ProBikeKit and the other from ChainReactionCycles. One order arrived quite quickly, the other still hasn't arrived, and I'm wondering if others have had issues with recent orders. I've used Torpedo7 in the past with no real issues, delivery still takes a week though.

The order from ProBikeKit was for tyres, tubes & socks. I placed it on Tuesday 22/12 and had an email that they had been dispatched late on Wed 23/12 (daytime in uk). It met their $55 free delivery requirement and I think was sent via Royal Mail.

With xmas coming up, I expected a bit of a delay. However to my surprise, it arrived on Wed 30/12. Pretty good considering the public holidays. It was sent in just a plastic bag, and the boxes the tyres and tubes were in were a bit squashed, but thats not really an issue for me with these items.

Now the bad experience.The order from CRC was for Oakley sunglasses, replacement frame & Polar bike computer). I placed it on Thursday 24/12 but didnt get the email that it had been sent till early Wed 30/12 (daytime Tue 29/12 in UK). Probably to be expected given the xmas rush. It met their $450 free delivery and was to be sent by ParcelForce. It seems here things have started to turn sour. I checked their online tracking system, and on 31/12 it was still in UK. This Monday (4/1) I checked their system again and no update. So I sent ParcelForce an email, and although I still haven't got a response, for 2 days running I've had the same tracking message added.

Today is 2 weeks since I placed the original order. Last night I asked my brother in the UK to try to look into this for me. He rang ParcelForce and they indicated to him that there was insufficient information on the order (customs info perhaps - they didn't elaborate) and that CRC needed to recall the parcel and resend. He tried ringing CRC but they didn't answer their phones. I've emailed CRC today, and will try to ring them myself tonight, but needless to say, I'm a bit peeved i'm having to get involved in the delivery.

Has anyone else had this sort of experience with CRC/Parcel Force, or is it just bad timing with Xmas (and perhaps too much snow in uk)? Any suggestions on how to get this resolved (quickly)? Was I just lucky with the PBK order? Anyway I hope I get the stuff soon as I'm out of pocket and the TourDownUnder ride is approaching and I'm no longer confident the items will be here before then.

i ordered from CRC on teh 27/12 and was processed, as yours was, on the 30/12. Mine has also left the UK with yours i would suspect as ihave similar tracking messages.

My experiences with CRC in the past is they are usually prety good with time of delivery. Maybe not quite as efficient as wigggle or PBK. Think the xmas thing, and the recent postal strikes in the UK could have influenced there a little slower than usual delivery times.

If sent via Parcel Force then there should be a tracking number. Contact them and provide the tracking number to see if they have any reason as to why the package hasn't left the UK. My experience with CRC has generally been good with packages arriving around 6 working days after being sent, except for one occasion when it took weeks.

biker jk wrote:If sent via Parcel Force then there should be a tracking number. Contact them and provide the tracking number to see if they have any reason as to why the package hasn't left the UK. My experience with CRC has generally been good with packages arriving around 6 working days after being sent, except for one occasion when it took weeks.

The details I posted were retrieved via the tracking number. As per the original post, my brother called them from London last night for me. His email back to me was

"Parcelforce say that it looks like there was insufficient information on the item being sent, so chain reaction cycles need to initiate a search (and probably re-send). I've tried to call them once but the phone is engaged. Ill try again shortly. They are probably snowed under. The country has ground to a halt today."

and then later

"Chain reaction cycles are just pushing me straight to a recorded message and there seems to be no queue.

I think that they may well have a closed office today cos of the snow. Ill try a few more times."

He couldn't get through to CRC, and I'll try again tonight. Have no idea why there would be insufficient information on the item being sent. Is CRC customer service easy to deal with once I do get through, or can I expect the run around. Seems like they are hard to contact at the moment. Although I've read others having good experiences with their customer service team. Hopefully I'll get the same treatment.

Dr_Mutley wrote:i ordered from CRC on teh 27/12 and was processed, as yours was, on the 30/12. Mine has also left the UK with yours i would suspect as ihave similar tracking messages.

My experiences with CRC in the past is they are usually prety good with time of delivery. Maybe not quite as efficient as wigggle or PBK. Think the xmas thing, and the recent postal strikes in the UK could have influenced there a little slower than usual delivery times.

Given you ordered at a similar time, I'd be interested to hear what your tracking messages are currently saying. Perhaps everything has ground to a halt over xmas and everything is still at the international hub (Coventry I think). Or maybe its just my order that is stuffed up.

Dr_Mutley wrote:i ordered from CRC on teh 27/12 and was processed, as yours was, on the 30/12. Mine has also left the UK with yours i would suspect as ihave similar tracking messages.

My experiences with CRC in the past is they are usually prety good with time of delivery. Maybe not quite as efficient as wigggle or PBK. Think the xmas thing, and the recent postal strikes in the UK could have influenced there a little slower than usual delivery times.

Given you ordered at a similar time, I'd be interested to hear what your tracking messages are currently saying. Perhaps everything has ground to a halt over xmas and everything is still at the international hub (Coventry I think). Or maybe its just my order that is stuffed up.

sportsfreakfromoz wrote:Now the bad experience.The order from CRC was for Oakley sunglasses, replacement frame & Polar bike computer). I placed it on Thursday 24/12 but didnt get the email that it had been sent till early Wed 30/12 (daytime Tue 29/12 in UK). Probably to be expected given the xmas rush. It met their $450 free delivery and was to be sent by ParcelForce. It seems here things have started to turn sour. I checked their online tracking system, and on 31/12 it was still in UK. This Monday (4/1) I checked their system again and no update. So I sent ParcelForce an email, and although I still haven't got a response, for 2 days running I've had the same tracking message added.

sportsfreakfromoz wrote:I've just made my first purchases from the UK, one from ProBikeKit and the other from ChainReactionCycles. One order arrived quite quickly, the other still hasn't arrived, and I'm wondering if others have had issues with recent orders. I've used Torpedo7 in the past with no real issues, delivery still takes a week though.

I think it just depends. I had two orders from Wiggle recently. One shipped on Dec 16th, the other on Dec 24th. The first parcel went via Royal Mail, the other was sent via Parcelforce (due to the size of the package I am guessing, since it was two wire-beaded tyres). The Parcelforce one showed up on Dec 31st, but the other one did not arrive until Jan 2nd. This was longer than usual, but I figured this was because of the holidays, plus the postal strike on both the UK and Australia. The guy who delivered it to the door said Aust Post had a huge amount of parcels to get through.

Iâ€™ve received 8 Shipments from wiggle. All available items processed for shipment on same or next day. Delivery within 7 days except for one that took around 2 weeks over the Christmas period. If something isn't in stock they ship what they have right away.

DealExtreme Bike light. Over a month wait for delivery. That was a real pain.

Havn't ordered from UK yet, but that will change soon.Torpedo7 have been prompt and good communication.Ordered from Cell once and susequent phone calls left me frustrated,as to the vagueness and lack of knowledge/dealing with multiple staff.Never again.

BigVin wrote:My order's been processed, so should hopefully be dispatched today or tomorrow, which means I may see it sometime next week!

So has mine. In fact in the past 2-3 weeks I have placed orders with Evanscycles, Wiggle, CRC, sjscycles and Probikekit. Of those 4 I have only received Evanscycles and Wiggle. I have called CRC and sjscycles and both haven't be shipped yet, and I'm thinking the snow has something to do with it.

I'm not fussed if my order doesn't show up this week.. I snapped my second BB30 / FSA SLK crank in 2 weeks on this morning's group ride, so I won't be riding till the adapter (to convert to std screw in crank) and my Ultegra 6700 cranks arrive at the bike store...not where I bought it from!FSA BB30 SUX!

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